Elie Hobeika's Legacy is his work towards eliminating Sectarianism and Confessionalism from the Lebanese Power Structure, in order to build a Modern Society in Lebanon, keen on Social Justice and Good Governance. He favored de-confessionalizing the Lebanese Government and ALL Political life, provided all participants in the democratic process commit themselves to constitutional separation of church & state...

4/19/2010

A Church Mary Can Love

A Church Mary Can Love

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

I heard a joke the other day about a pious soul who dies, goes to heaven, and gains an audience with the Virgin Mary. The visitor asks Mary why, for all her blessings, she always appears in paintings as a bit sad, a bit wistful: Is everything O.K.?

Mary reassures her visitor: “Oh, everything’s great. No problems. It’s just ... it’s just that we had always wanted a daughter.”

That story comes to mind as the Vatican wrestles with the consequences of a patriarchal premodern mind-set: scandal, cover-up and the clumsiest self-defense since Watergate. That’s what happens with old boys’ clubs.

It wasn’t inevitable that the Catholic Church would grow so addicted to male domination, celibacy and rigid hierarchies. Jesus himself focused on the needy rather than dogma, and went out of his way to engage women and treat them with respect.

The first-century church was inclusive and democratic, even including a proto-feminist wing and texts. The Gospel of Philip, a Gnostic text from the third century, declares of Mary Magdalene: “She is the one the Savior loved more than all the disciples.” Likewise, the Gospel of Mary (from the early second century) suggests that Jesus entrusted Mary Magdalene to instruct the disciples on his religious teachings.

St. Paul refers in Romans 16 to a first-century woman named Junia as prominent among the early apostles, and to a woman named Phoebe who served as a deacon. The Apostle Junia became a Christian before St. Paul did (chauvinist translators have sometimes rendered her name masculine, with no scholarly basis).

Yet over the ensuing centuries, the church reverted to strong patriarchal attitudes, while also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with sexuality. The shift may have come with the move from house churches, where women were naturally accepted, to more public gatherings.

The upshot is that proto-feminist texts were not included when the Bible was compiled (and were mostly lost until modern times). Tertullian, an early Christian leader, denounced women as “the gateway to the devil,” while a contemporary account reports that the great Origen of Alexandria took his piety a step further and castrated himself.

The Catholic Church still seems stuck today in that patriarchal rut. The same faith that was so pioneering that it had Junia as a female apostle way back in the first century can’t even have a woman as the lowliest parish priest. Female deacons, permitted for centuries, are banned today.

That old boys’ club in the Vatican became as self-absorbed as other old boys’ clubs, like Lehman Brothers, with similar results. And that is the reason the Vatican is floundering today.

But there’s more to the picture than that. In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church — obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice — is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.

Yet there’s another Catholic Church as well, one I admire intensely. This is the grass-roots Catholic Church that does far more good in the world than it ever gets credit for. This is the church that supports extraordinary aid organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, saving lives every day, and that operates superb schools that provide needy children an escalator out of poverty.

This is the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children. This is the church of the Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.

This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There’s a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I’ve come to believe that the very coolest people in the world today may be nuns.

So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.

It’s high time for the Vatican to take inspiration from that sublime — even divine — side of the Catholic Church, from those church workers whose magnificence lies not in their vestments, but in their selflessness. They’re enough to make the Virgin Mary smile....

Judaism has always had a visceral and passionate hatred for the person of Christ which cannot be compared with the usual inter-religious tensions or antagonisms. When a Christian passes near a Mosque or a Muslim passes near a Christian Church, they don't utter curses. A religious Jew does (or, at least, is supposed to). Believing that your religion is true does entail that you consider the other ones has false, but thinking that somebody is in error does not entail hatred for that person. You know - love the sinner, hate the sin kind of approach. But Jews have always hated Christians and Christianity with a special intensity. And that has nothing to do with the alleged Antisemitism of the Church. Yes, the Papacy doesn't have a long history of Antisemitism, and also the real, original, Christian Church of the Church Fathers, never had any signs of hatred towards Jews even when their religious beliefs were scorned and denounced. Anyway, that is a long topic. Can I recommend a book on this topic? Read this book which can only be found at B&N: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Judaism-Discovered-from-Its-Own-Texts/Michael-Hoffman/e/9780970378453

.....“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference.

“We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people – all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.

“Even if the head of the Israeli state is Jewish, the future is based on democracy....

The old adage has it that, when visiting a foreign country, to ascertain who really runs things, one need determine only who is spoken about in whispers, if at all. ...

Hate laws are a singularly Jewish invention being foisted upon an unsuspecting public, so as to preemptively remove the possibility of criticism of themselves. Often written by the ADL, the organization that lobbies for their adoption, state by state, the laws are designed to stifle dissent and speaking out. ...

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RTC

MY FRIEND ELIE HOBEIKA, HK

MY FRIEND ELIE HOBEIKA, HK

One can see the wisdom in his very visage. The hazel eyes, glowing from sockets lined with deep suntan emotions, beam with the brilliance of a limelight. His hair, looking like spun silver, sits neatly in place upon his head. Yet, as he nods slightly, it sparkles, each strand in concert, as if to echo the exuberance of his own nature.
His nose, strong and stately, arcs proudly above the overshadowed yet undaunted mouth. The lips, bold as they are, show incredible kindness and generosity, especially when he curls them into one of his particularly boyish grins. His countenance mirrors his being and in that beautiful angel face one can see a child playing in a meadow.
His forty six years do not show themselves in his posture. He stands tall, erect; and moves with unmitigated grace. Always dressed in perfect clothes, his bright colors dazzle and shine in the Lebanon sun. What a sight this man is to behold! The experiences, heartbreaks, loves, joys, and victories of forty six years of living, all combine into one fascinating embodiment within him, a Heroes' Hero and the greatest man ever.

DCC

FREE LEBANON'S FUTURE

Bashir Gemayel and ELIE Hobeika , ARE turning in their Graves, when they see

these pathetic " New Alliances " made in Neoconville USA , Midwifed by amine

Gemayel, between the so-called LF, Joumblatt " The NEW Darling of the

Neocons" Agent in Chief, the Killer Samir Geagea, Moufti JOUZOU, with

PLO/FATH of all people, The New Hariri STOOGES of Saad... and other

unsavory characters not worth mentioning here.

WALEED JOUMBLATT, Amine Gemayel, The Batrak , Geagea the monster,

and ALL the March 14th jerks, have permanently DERAILED, AND

ELIMINATED FOR GOOD, the heavenly gatherings of good will and

NONSECTARIAN MANIFESTATIONS of a NON-SECTARIAN NATIONAL

IDENTITY, FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF FEODAL POLITICS...

The March 14th group decapitated the NATION with their petty sectarian
formulas.
Assef Shawkat is back with a vengeance, ASSEF SHAWKAT IS A MONSTROUS
SERIAL KILLER,NOW SUPPORTED BY THE WEST AGAIN.....
HE IS TRYING TO COME BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, PRECISELY BECAUSE OF
THE FAILURES OF THE MARCH 14TH PETTY SECTARIAN POLITICS, AND NOT
AT ALL BECAUSE OF THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DIVIDE, WHO ARE NATURALLY
EXERCISING THEIR RIGHT IN A PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. MARCH 14TH
GROUP HAVE FAILED MISERABLY THE TEST OF HISTORY, AND THEIR
LEGACY WILL BE IN THE GUTTER OF LEBANON'S HISTORY, FOR THEY HIJACKED
THE DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS OF SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF VERY TALENTED
YOUNG PEOPLE, FOR THEIR PETTY SECTARIAN AND BIGOTED POLICIES.

LET'S WORK TOWARDS ELIMINATING SECTARIAN POLITICS

FREE LEBANON IS : "MESSAGE" TO THE WORLD .

WE MUST FREE LEBANON'S YOUNG GENERATIONS FROM THE FEUDAL POLITICS OF A BLIND RULING "ELITE".

Bashir Gemayel and ELIE Hobeika , ARE turning in their Graves, when they see these pathetic " New Alliances " made in Neoconville USA , Midwifed by amine Gemayel, between the so-called LF, Joumblatt " The NEW Darling of the Neocons" Agent in Chief, the criminal Killer Samir Geagea, Moufti JOUZOU, with PLO/FATH of all people, The New Hariri STOOGES of Saad Hariri and other unsavory characters not worth mentioning here.

WALEED JOUMBLATT, Amine Gemayel, The Batrak SFEIR , the criminal Geagea, hungry for more Christian blood , because he has always been a serial killer and a murderer all his adult life, including 11 years in solitary confinement for murders committed in the 80s, and many other murders still to be judged, and ALL the March 14th whacko's, have permanently DERAILED, AND ELIMINATED FOR GOOD, the amazing gatherings of good will and NONSECTARIAN MANIFESTATIONS of a NON-SECTARIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY. The March 14th group decapitated the NATION with their petty sectarian and weak formulas, built around self aggrandizement of miserable individuals, who don't have enough legs to stand on... Assef Shawkat is back with a vengeance, ASSEF SHAWKAT IS A MONSTROUS SERIAL KILLER, NOW SUPPORTED BY THE WEST AGAIN.....HE IS TRYING TO COME BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE FAILURES OF THE MARCH 14TH PETTY SECTARIAN POLITICS, AND NOT AT ALL BECAUSE OF THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DIVIDE, WHO ARE NATURALLY EXERCISING THEIR RIGHT IN A PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. MARCH 14TH GROUP HAVE FAILED MISERABLY THE TEST OF HISTORY, AND THEIR LEGACY WILL BE IN THE GUTTER OF LEBANON'S HISTORY, FOR THEY HIJACKED THE DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS OF SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF VERY TALENTED YOUNG LEBANESE PEOPLE, FOR THEIR PETTY SECTARIAN AND BIGOTED POLICIES.